Under the incadescent lamp

This weekend proved to be a very full one. Fairly early Saturday morning I hit the road, bound for Santa Maria to pick up Rece at my dad's house (he spent the week there after our camping trip). I made good time, as the traffic was very light... only about 3.25 hours to get there. I stayed there long enough to catch my breath, get a copy of some of my dad's amazing photgraphy, and have him pop my back.

On the way back we stopped at Pea Soup Andersen's for some more pea soup, but just a couple of bowls each. We hit a lot of traffic on the freeway, which worked out to be around 5 hours driving. It was incredibly hot, too!

Quinn and I planned for him to come over Saturday evening, so we could have a few brews and hang out. So he came over Saturday evening and we had a few brews and hung out... uh... I just said that, didn't I? We talked until pretty late, or rather early I should say.

This morning (Sunday) we woke up and I sent Rece off to be with his mom (it was her birthday today). After a proper breakfast at Dick Church's restaurant, we went back to my place and decided to jam a bit. Oh, I forgot to say that Quinn also planned to bring his guitar and an amp so we could jam. So he brought over his guitar and an amp... and... uh... we jammed - no Mason jars or fruits were harmed in the process either.

For those who don't know (that's everybody except for Quinn and I), the two of us haven't played together since some time in early 1989 - that's about 17 years, folks... 1/2 a liftetime ago for me. It's been around 15 years since I last played the drums for longer than 20 or 30 minutes (and that was only 2 or 3 times). Needless to say, I was very rusty. Quinn said he was rusty as well, but he sounded just fine to me! He's been practicing and making some music of his own lately.

We managed to play for about 30-45 minutes before needing a break (it was very warm in the garage) and then went back and played for about another hour. I must admit, I've so missed playing, let alone with Quinn, quite a bit! It took me awhile before I felt somewhat comfortable playing again. I began to loosen up around the last 30 minutes of playing, as the hidden drummer part of my brain and muscle-memory started to find one another again. It was also pretty foreign for Quinn to be playing guitar with a drummer again - which meant having to maintain a very constant tempo.

Hopefully we'll be able to do this on a more regular basis. The taste for making music is on my tongue and I fear that I'm about to get hooked on it again! I look forward to the soreness I'm bound to feel for playing so long... after so long of not playing - it'll be a nice reminder of a great time.

This entry was brought to you by a drummer, reborn!

Petite purple poppies

A plethora of pomegranate pulp poured perilously over the porcupine's pal, the platapus - a plan poorly prepared by prissy pre-teen pep-squad partcipants.

This post presented by pretense and pralines!

Grammar Nazi

Well, according to Godwin's Law, I've already lost my argument by starting this post with a comparison to Nazis. Oh well...

The written word comes easier for some people, but definitely not all. Hell, I know for certain that I'm far from following all the rules and best practices. One of the things that is very important to me is the correct usage (thanks anonymous!) of words - spelling and grammar. I read this article about some common grammar mistakes that I thought might be helpful for some people to read.

Beyond simple grammar, people often use words that sound the same in the wrong place. This web page has a pretty good list and description of how they're meant to be used.

So there you have it. My anal-retentive tendencies have gotten the best of me and now I'm getting persnickety.

This entry is afraid too know if your going to hate him allot for pointing out spelling and grammar mistakes. Heed hate to loose any friends!

Midnight Mentality

Late night, a few beers, and I suddenly slipped into introspection. For some reason the following popped into my head last night. It struck me as something I wanted to remember, so I saved it and now I post it here...

Why am I often so dark inside?
What is it that attracts me to the morbid and melancholy?
My darkness seems to be interrupted by periodic moments of vivid color.

This post was brought to you in the middle of the night.

2006 Summer Vacation - The details

This is the trip that Rece and I look forward to every year. We always go to San Simeon State Park and spend our time enjoying the peace and quiet there. It also affords me some introvert time during my birthday week, as I can sometimes get overwhelmed from too much social activity (which tends to be the case on one's birthday). Anyhow, I figured that a brief summary of our trip was in order for the 2 or 3 people who care to know about it - so here goes...

Day 1 - Roadtrip up to Santa Maria (Tuesday)
My dad lives along the way to San Simeon, so to take the stress of trying to get out super early in order to secure a campsite (I never reserve, relying on the first-come, first-served sites), I arranged it so that we'd stay a night at my dad's place and get out early enough to get a site the following morning. That way we could take off some time before noon and take our time driving up there, stopping wherever and whenever we felt like it along the way.

My car's odometer flipped over to 100K on this trip, which I photographed (not included in the Flickr photo gallery), which I felt required a stop (when it reached 99,999.9 miles) and to mark that location in my GPS unit. How geeky is that?

Our first planned stop was Pea Soup Andersen's. I can't take a trip up the 101 and not stop there - it's a tradition! First we found a geocache somebody had hidden in the parking lot, then we went in and had far too much pea soup. YUM!

While I gluttonously spooned soup down my gullet, I realized that despite our numerous trips up this way, Rece had never seen Solvang. It was only a few miles off, so I decided to head up there for a quick peek. When he asked where we were going, he mistakenly heard me say "Soul Fang" which I found quite hilarious. "Yes, Rece, it's a town full of vampires."

We found a couple more geocaches along the way and made it to my dad's place shortly before dinnertime... not that we had any room for more food.

Day 2 - Camping Day 1
After a good night's sleep, we took off for San Simeon State Park. As usual, we had our choice of campsites and opted for one we'd been in a couple years prior.

There was a group of tents in the 2 campsites next to us that turned out to be a bunch of kids from a YMCA club. Rece had fun hanging out with them - they really were a good group of people.

We drove down to Harmony, a very tiny town with a population of 18. We were there for a geocache, but I also picked up a birthday card and mailed it out from there - so it would have a Harmony postmark.

We nabbed a few more geocaches and picked up some groceries that I had opted to buy locally instead of trying to keep them fresh and "unsquished" on the trip.

Day 3 - Camping Day 2 - Gabe's birthday
Wanting a change of pace, I decided that a drive up the coast was in order. I had downloaded info for a couple of caches about 45 minutes drive up the coast, and wanted to go check them out. We found a nice rocky beach to eat lunch and nabbed just one of the two caches.

On the way back down we stopped to view the elephant seals and Rece got to feed some very friendly squirrels (as can be seen in the photo gallery).

I had promised Rece that we'd go to the beach so he could play in the ocean, so we stopped at San Simeon beach, next to the pier, for a couple of hours. It's unusual for me to spend much time sitting out in the sun and this reminded me of why (headache, lethargy, blah)... oh well, at least Rece had a good time.

Day 4 - Camping Day 3
With the YMCA kids having left the previous afternoon and nobody camping next to us, we managed to get a very good night's sleep.

We planned to go picnic at San Simeon Point, which was something we had kept saying we wanted to do, but for some reason we never managed to accomplish. This time we did it, and also completed the walk along the entire point. I can't express the beauty of that place, but suffice it to say, it's a place we feel compelled to visit every time we're up there.

As with the other days, we also found a few more geocaches.

A family set up camp next to our site that afternoon and we spent the evening talking. A nice group of people, who also come here every summer.

Oddly enough, this was the only evening that Rece and I felt compelled to get out and watch the sunset. I got a few pictures of it while we were there. Have I mentioned how beautiful it is out there?!

Day 5 - Camping Day 4 - Drive back to Santa Maria
After a hearty breakfast (bacon, eggs, O'Brien potatoes, toast, juice, coffee), Rece and I packed up our campsite and hit the road. We took our time, finding quite a few geocaches along the way, eventually making our way back to my dad's house.

Long, hot showers were in order for the both of us, followed up with dinner out. My dad suggested the Roadhouse Grill (in Santa Maria), which turned out to be a good choice for BBQ ribs... mmmm...

After we got back and I was reconnected to the digital world, we went to the Santa Barbara County fair. It was interesting, to say the least. Let's just say that I'm in no hurry to move to Santa Maria. We did have a good time, though, which is what really matters.

Day 6 - The drive home
The plan was for me to leave Rece with my dad for the week, so I left him there and took off to meet up with a friend in Santa Barbara. She and I had lunch (sushi - YUM!), I introduced her to geocaching (which she seemed to find interesting), and went out for some delicious ice cream.

The rest of the drive home was fairly quiet, but it was just what I needed to clear my head and prepare to re-enter the daily grind.

This entry wishes it could have stayed longer.

2006 Summer Vacation - the photos

Rece and I take a trip up to San Simeon every summer for some camping. We did this last week and had such a great time and took lots of pictures. I've uploaded around 1/3 of them to a Flickr album, if you're interested in checking them out...

Gabe & Rece's Camping Trip

It's after 1:00 am now and I'm not feeling especially alert enough to write a blog about the trip right now. Hopefully I'll have time tomorrow.

This entry can't believe how long it takes to resize, crop,
color-correct, upload, title, and caption 68 pictures.

Going backwards

I'll be posting about my vacation last week later tonight, but in the meantime I just felt the need to vent about my work situation.

Since I've started working here, I've received a small increase of pay at the beginning of every year. It was linked to performance to a good degree, which is to be expected. What was nice about this increase was that at minimum it helped adjust my pay against inflation, but usually it was more than just that - which meant positive growth.

We also used to receive regular work-related training/education paid for so our skills were kept current. With the inevitable upgrades and changes in software and technology, we did at least a minimum to keep up with things. This also helped maintain our value in the marketplace.

I haven't been to a training class for over 2 years now. We're using software that I'm no longer trained for, which means having to learn it on my own - often through some trial and error. I'm a smart guy, but I can't help but wonder if there are better methods to accomplish things or if I'm missing some key steps or information while doing my work. It's a constant source of frustration.

I got back from vacation while our first checks came in after the new fiscal year (when I'd notice an increase, if one was given) and checked to see what the increase was for this year. Nada. I'm still making the same as last year. So if you take inflation and the increase in gas prices into account, I'm effectively making less this year than last - and my marketable skills aren't as current as they should be. This isn't a good position to be in.

So now I need to take a hard look at whether or not a change is in order. If I stay here and things continue like this, I'll be worse off as time goes on. Sure the year didn't pan out as we had hoped, but the position I'm in has no way of controlling how well we do - unless I don't do my job and people in the building are unable to get out and raise money.

My job isn't glamorous or in the public eye, I don't get much attention for what I do - it's a behind the scenes support position. If I'm getting a lot of attention, it's usually because something isn't working right. People are able to do what they need to do on their comptuers if I'm doing my job. I've done my part of the deal, as always, and even go beyond it with additional help with all sorts of things as needed - plus some new tools and functionality to provide even more ways for staff to stay or be more productive.

What all this rambling and ranting comes down to is that I feel a bit used and unappreciated. I know I do a good job and that I do it well. We'll see if the turnover increases in the near future in response to this with other staff that might feel the same way. To me this is a case of being penny-wise, but pound foolish. Something has got to give.

This entry just wants what's fair.

Ready to go!

Because of odd scheduling conflicts, I had to delay leaving on our camping trip for a day. Hopefully we'll be on the road by noon tomorrow. It's a good thing that I had a couple of days to fudge with, otherwise the trip would have to be shortened - which would have been no good.

Both Rece and I are anxious to hit the road. This is our annual camping trip and it's gonna be a blast, I just know it. In the past our camp-outs have lasted only as much as 3 days + 2 nights - but this time we're going for a whopping 4 days + 3 nights. Yeah, living on the edge... that's how I roll, yo.

What's going to be a little different this time is that we're going to make a deliberate effort to create a true photojournal of the trip. I mean that we'll take pictures of everything we do - and a lot more of ourselves (using a tripod, as opposed to our typical arm-length shots).

There's also a great spot right at the ocean where we keep saying will make for a good picnic spot, but never seem to do it... well, we're gonna do it this time. Yep, I said it - a picnic on coastal cliffs, overlooking tidepools. I don't care if saying it gets me 20 years behind bars for sitting on a blanket and eating roast beef sammiches!

So anyhow, I just now (yep, mid-blog writing) decided against bringing beer and crossed it off the list. Why bother? It's just Rece and I. Wow... why did I even bother to write that?

This entry wants to go sleep in a tent... NOW!

What a night!

I went out for drinks with some friends on Friday after work - something I don't ordinarily do. We ended up drinking a lot and...

...heck we even ended up going out to a club for some dancing. Yeah... me... dancing. I was too drunk to care. Anyhow, I'm just going to say that I had a lot of fun and in ways that were pretty new to me. It was such a blast and the company was top-notch! I just might have to do this more often.

This entry didn't seem to care too much about his two left feet last night.

The Mighty Quinn RAWKS!

My old friend Quinn and I had a garage band going for awhile back in high school. It didn't go anywhere but it was fun while it lasted. Well Quinn continued with music after high school, got a band together (Squeaky Wheels) and even went so far as to cut a demo tape (that's what we used before CDs, kids). Responsibilities and life led to that band not continuing and Quinn sorta let his musical talent go dormant for a spell.

Over the last few years, he's putzed around with music on the computer and has learned how to self-produce to an extent using his own equipment. Well, up until now, most of what he's created would probably be considered tinkering and just messing around. This all changed as of today. Check out his blog and listen to the song he created - IT EFFING RAWKS!

This entry is Quinn's biggest fan!

Happy 4th of July

Time for another video blog. Nothing exciting or funny in this one... just me yacking my face off.

This entry wants to watch things go snap, crackle, & pop!

We're all related

I read this very interesting article about how everybody on the planet shares one common relative at some point back in history. I sorta like the idea.

This entry ain't heavy, he's your brother.

Mini Jack

Rece put together a strange little video last night. He shot almost all the footage (I did the "puppies" part), and I provided only minimal help during editing... so he gets full credit for this one. My son, the nutcase...

This entry was brought to you buy puppies.

How one of the telco arguments against net neutrality is flawed

In the debate surrounding Net Neutrality, we're hearing point and counter-point for and against the issue from both sides. One of the arguments that Telcos are trying to use is to say that there are a lot of "freeloaders" using up the net resources far more than others and making it more expensive for them to operate. Well, that just doesn't make a whole lot of sense if you understand how it all works. Finally somebody that actually understands the insides of operating a large-scale (Telco) network has come forward to explain how this particular argument doesn't fly.

Companies do deserve to make a profit and recover the costs of setting up and maintaining their networks. What many consumers don't understand is that some of these large Telco companies are attempting to change the way the Internet is structured so that they can make even more money. The points made in the above linked blog help illustrate the truth about how it all works.

Don't be fooled, people!

This entry hopes that the Internet stays the way it is.

But I don't like worms...

Managed to get up an hour early this morning and didn't realize it until I was ready to go to work. Since I had the time, I decided to create another video log. Fun stuff.



Okay, now I'm off to get me some breakfast!

This entry hit the snooze button one too many times.

Mac & cheese, ice cream truck music, and more!

Managed to find time during lunch today to go home, eat a PB&J sammich, and make a new vlog. Here's the result...



I'm a little irked at how the very end got chopped off so abruptly. The original I uploaded wasn't like that. Anywho... hope you enjoy it!

This entry likes chocolate milk.

Craigslist does it right

Read this article about Craigslist's founder Craig Newmark. I have to say that I respect the guy's way of doing business on the web. What's most impressive to me is that when everybody else seems to be selling their sites to big media, Craigslist doesn't seem concerned with selling out for big money - which they very likely could, considering how popular it is.

This entry wants a pony!

My first vlog

Is a vlog just a blog made by a vampire... in your pants? Yep, so yeah... okay...

This entry made a Corona flop into a vlog, never to be seen again.

Brewery Brouhaha

This article just made my day. I'm not a beer snob by any measure, but there are some forms of beer that I just won't waste my time drinking, if given the choice. It seems that the Germans feel the same way and I applaud them for it!

This entry wishes it had a full pint in his hand right now!

Seen at the office

I read the following on a Post-It note stuck to a co-worker's monitor today...

"feed letterhead side up bottom first"

I have no idea why I found that so entertaining...

This entry is about as confused as you are about it all.

Getting paid to sit in a car

A brilliant, yet simple idea. Props to this guy!

This entry's tummy doesn't feel so good today.

It's a girl!

I just received word from my brother that his second child has been born. Her name is Lily Mae and she's adorable! 7 pounds, 10 ounces, & 20 inches long... a nice healthy baby!

Lily Mae


Papa Danny & baby Lily getting some much needed rest.

This entry was made by a proud uncle!

Boy, oh boy!

I just keep reading more and more about the types of arguments that are being used in support of the global warming theory Al Gore and the likes are trying to push at us. Again, I'd like to clarify that I'm not saying that global temperatures aren't rising - I just don't think that it's because of what so many are trying to claim it to be from.

This entry skipped along its merry little way to la-la land.

To my cyberstalker...

Hi Carmen! :)

This entry needed a break from work for 30 seconds, which this provided.

I knew it!

Is it just me that gets annoyed with all the anti-germ, anti-bacterial, sterilized crap people seem so hung up on lately? Well, as I suspected, it turns out that living in such a squeaky clean environment may actually be bad for people's health. Read about it for yourself.

To me this just makes sense. Sure, basic hygiene and cleanliness makes sense to prevent common diseases and the likes. But to contantly sterilize and decontaminate your home in fear of germs, microbes, and icky stuff means that you're preventing your body (and that of your children's) from learning how to deal with them on it's own.

Anyhow, just thought I'd share!

This entry trusts the 5-second rule... sorta.

Happy Father's Day!

This Father's Day was great! Rece turned off all the ringers on the phones and let me sleep in until around 10:00 am, then woke me up with a menu he had made. It had 4 options for breakfasts he could make me (eggs, cereal, oatmeal, or cream of wheat) along with a choice of beverage (milk or soda). I opted for the eggs, which he made along with some bacon and toast. He makes excellent scrambled eggs!

After serving me breakfast in bed (served on a baking pan, "I had to improvise" he said), he grabbed himself a bowl of cereal and joined me. We watched the World Cup games while we ate as there was not much else on, really. After that I got ready for the day and I called my dad to wish him a Happy Father's Day.

Not wanting to just lounge about the house all day, Rece and I went out Geocaching (here are some photos), taking our sweet time finding them. Most of the caches turned out to be near parks with playgrounds, so about a third of the time was spent with Rece playing and me dozing on a nearby bench. Our final geocaches found count for the day was 9, in around 4 hours. We had attempted to find 12, but as we really aren't in it for the numbers, we simply gave up on the ones that required a lot of effort - at least on this day.

Today was a nice reminder of how much I enjoy being a dad.

This entry made possible by the power of bacon smacker!

Got talent?

My buddy Quinn is chock full of the stuff. Not only has he a flair for the silly and odd video, he's quite the musician too! Check out the tune he made and posted to his blog.

This entry wishes he had this much musical talent.

Some hills, an ocean, and a rattlesnake

I finally got around to posting pictures of our hike from this past weekend. I linked to the YouTube video that Quinn put up of our rattlesnake encounter. Quinn posted some photos on his blog as well.

This entry is bummed that it's starting to get too warm to go hiking now.

More on the global warming theory...

Yep, I can't seem to let this topic go. I'm still not convinced and stories like this just make the gap between the theory of global warming and my belief in it ever wider.

This entry doesn't think it's the end of the world as we know it, but still feels fine.

Yes we have no bananas today

We are all out of bananas at my place. Yep, that's all I wanted to say.

This entry can be filed under "X" for "strange".

Friends with too much time on their hands

My buddy Quinn is up to it again. He's created yet another funny video using photos of he and I. To be honest, after my last post, I could really use a laugh. Good timing, Quinn!

This entry feels a little better now.

Frustrated

I knew going in that it was something that I shouldn't have looked at. Yep, I went to yet another site where you can look up your pay as compared to others in the same field of work and in your area. Apparently I'm making $10-13K less per year than the average salary for what I do in this area. If I were to factor in the 5-10% drop to be expected for the non-profit sector, I'm still at least $6K per year under the average.

I'm not happy about this - both for the fact I feel taken advantage of and that I checked it out in the first place.

Turnover here is pretty high, even higher this year. There's something wrong when unemployment is still pretty high and yet people are managing to find jobs to walk away from here with.

Gah... why did I have to look? WHY!?

This entry apparently needs a new job.

Mom, you should divorce dad...

... if he wants most of the pansy-ass bullshit on Forbes' list of "What Dad Really Wants". I mean seriously...

This entry brought to you by a non-metrosexual dad.

A simple kind of life

This morning I found a link to this article about a woman that simplified her lifestyle. I must say that this sounds very appealing to me! Anyhow, it'll probably be a little while before I could actually do something like this, but I've considered moving up to Oregon and doing it on may occasions.

I went on a great hike this weekend with some friends. We had a good time on a beautiful Sunday morning hiking in the hills near the ocean. We saw a rattle snake (first time I've seen one in "the wild") and spent some time trying to take pictures/video of it. Rece wasn't quite thinking straight and ended up getting separated from our group on the way back. He ended up having to make the walk back (about 3 miles) all by himself. I think he learned some valuable lessons. I'll probably post some pictures within a day or two.

This entry is enjoying the mild muscle soreness in his legs today.

What's going on with Blogger lately?

Blogger (where this blog is hosted) seems to have had some technical glitches over the last few days. While you could view blogs (albeit very slowly), I couldn't get in to post. It's frustrating when you have an idea (or an epically long blog topic) in your head that you want to get out before it blows up and causes a forest fire - yeah Smokey didn't warn you about those dangers did he?

This entry jumped off of an idea and ended up floating around in a bowl of theoretical soup.

Full Disclosure - Part 2

All right, so in part 1 of this I went over most of the important things I look for in relationships. This second part is where I go over things about myself. Hopefully this will help serve as a reminder to me that I'm far from perfect - and maybe help others understand me a little bit better.

Alright, let's get this started with:

Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI): INTP (find your type here)

I've found a lot of interesting insight about people based on their MBTI. This doesn't tell you what type of person they are, but it does help you understand they way they tend to process things in life.

I won't even bother with my astrological sign, as I think it's complete bullshit.

Hmm... what next? How about my strengths. This isn't always easy to do for yourself, but many of my friends have been nice enough to inform me of some of my strengths (and also my flaws, coming up next). These are in no particular order...

- Smart, able to comprehend complex things
- Logical, can usually figure out a solution to a problem
- Insightful, able to see things from many different angles
- Funny, make people laugh, not afraid to look like a dork
- Easy to talk to
- Knowledgable in many different areas
- Creative
- Musically inclined
- Direct and to the point
- Honest
- Dependable, I'm there when you need me or when I say I will be
- Helpful
- Caring
- Easy-going
- Stable
- Good with computers
- Generally able to give good advice
- Trustworthy, people know that they can talk to me and I'll maintain their confidence
- More than one female has said that they feel safe when I'm around (not just girlfriends)
- Non-judgemental
- Perceptive
- Patient
- Tolerant
- Will be that one friend who will tell you the truth, even when it hurts
- Good in the kitchen
- Self-sufficient (cook, clean, iron, laundry, etc for myself)
- Good driver
- Good father
- Pretty good judge of character

Here's a list of my flaws (that I know of):

- Sometimes too direct and to the point
- Sometimes the truth isn't what somebody wants to hear and I'll say it anyway
- Don't always show how I feel
- Procrastinate a lot
- Lack initiative sometimes
- Not especially 'driven' or 'goal oriented'
- Distant and/or withdrawn at times
- Put up with some things too long
- Lack self-confidence in many areas
- Like to be in control too often
- Can be inflexible at times
- My humor can sometimes be a bit mean-spirited
- Will sometimes try avoid answering a question that I don't want to answer

General things about me:

I'm mostly an introvert, but have learned how to cope with social situations (the one thing that I can thank my evil step-mother for). If I'm lucky, I can be in a social gathering, but remain off to the side by myself and get to enjoy people-watching. I tend to do well one-on-one or in small groups. After periods of being around other people a lot, I tend to seek solitude to sort of 'recharge'. Sometimes I'll hole-up for an entire week, but at some point I come back out.

Nights are my favorite time. Having a 9-5 job has forced me to adapt to being a day person, but I do get out into the night when opportunity arrives. The beach at night is so relaxing!

The outdoors are nice and I like to go hiking and camping, especially in areas away from the city. When gas wasn't so expensive, I used to like driving down roads I've never been on before, just to see where they went.

I have a tendency to be cynical and sarcastic. Usually it comes out as a very dry sense of humor. It can also be playful ribbing and personal jibes. Some people might think I'm being rude, but I generally don't mean anything by it. If I really had a problem with something, I would just tell them directly.

My mind tends to drift (partly because I have ADD), which can sometimes make it difficult for me to stay focused on a conversation. Additionally, this tendency also means that I tend to be very random and odd to most people. My humor is often laced with innuendo and/or will come seemingly from out of nowhere. Usually this is because my brain has somehow found some round-about connection with something within my scope of view/hearing. This isn't always the case, since these odd and strange ideas can also just come out of nowhere except my imagination. Friends tell me that I'm odd/strange/weird - but not in a scary way.

Theory and abstract thinking are where my thoughts tend to dwell most of the time. Time and time again I'll find myself pondering the connections or causes of things - no matter how random, strange, mundane, or unimportant. Ideas and concepts just occur to me out of the blue sometimes. An example of this is how I learned to tie a necktie 2 different ways without ever having seen it done or tried to do - after I pictured it in my mind I borrowed one of my step dad's ties and tried it out and was amazed that my idea worked. Other things like how French onion soup became so popular or why pork is shunned/forbidden by some religions. Heck, even existential topics, with a bit of strangeness thrown in: are we just a bunch of specks of dust (or atomically small objects) floating around in a bedroom closet in some larger universe - and our lifetime is just a fraction of a second to that universe? Yeah, shit like that.

Take the last sentence of the previous paragraph into consideration for a moment. Yep, I swear. In person, I swear a lot more. There aren't very many words that I won't say, either. I do a good job around mixed company, but when I'm just relaxing with friends, I just let it flow. Some days are worse than others and it really just depends on my mood. People that eschew cussing probably won't be comfortable around me.

Okay, so there it is. I've splilled my guts, both good and bad, to the world. I might come back and add to this as stuff occurs to me

This entry just didn't know when to quit!

Full Disclosure - Part 1

[Warning: Extremely long post...]

Being single is a strange thing. We want to meet people, but we want to meet for a multitude of different reasons - a good portion of the time not for the same reasons. So what are people supposed to do?

Dating takes time and money. The end result (hell, even the starting result) may not always be what you were looking for, yet you're now out all this time and money. The process can often repeat itself over and over, with a wild variety of outcomes. This can become frustrating and discouraging for many people. This is especially true for introverts like me. But we still have to try, right?

We've all heard of these dating or matchmaking sites like eHarmony and Match.com that are supposed to help us weed out the ones that are less likely to be in sync with our wants and needs. In theory, this makes sense, but then you run into problems with people not being very honest with how they've portrayed themselves online. Misleading photos and bios that people post to make them look better or simply different than they really are - even if just slightly - might not be found out until later, after much time (and possibly money) has been spent getting to know one another online.

Yeah, yeah, I can hear some of you now... "but looks aren't everything" or "what does it matter, if you feel something for them in the end?". That's not my point. What I'm getting at is how can a future relationship expect to flourish after the intial contact and basis for those feelings is based on a lie?

I'll be honest with you: looks matter to me, to some extent. They're not all that I'm looking at, but if I'm not attracted to a woman in some physical way, chances are that I'm going to pursue it much further. To some looks really aren't that important, and that's what works for them. Lying to me about your looks or showing me only your assets is just going to reveal itself when I actually see you - and I'll be none to happy about it. Just put your best foot forward and be yourself!

The next two things that I find important are intelligence and logic. Contrary to what some may think, they do not always co-exist within the same person. Looks may get you attention, but you gotta have something behind that pretty face to hold mine for very long. I want to be able to discuss theories or unknowns with a gal... somebody that can challenge my mind, to stretch it further or in a different direction - and hopefully that I can do the same for.

Humor is something that is highly subjective and differs dramatically between individuals. A gal that "gets" my sense of humor and can laugh with/at me and that I can laugh with/at (i.e., doesn't take themselves too seriously) will likely become a friend, if nothing more is in the cards for us. Life is too short to not enjoy it!

Musical ability or interests are something that I definitely pay attention to. Music is such an influential thing. While my music interests seem to cover a very wide selection of genres and generations, there is some music that I just cannot get into. In fact, most rap/hip-hop & country make my brain hurt. There just isn't any other way I can think to put it. A gal that can sing and/or play an instrument is a turn-on, for sure.

Dependability is a rather broad term that I could probably use to apply to many traits as a whole. People that are often late, don't come through with a commitment (this applies to so many things), blow people off when something more interesting than what was originally planned comes along, don't offer to help others, gossip and back-stab, like to create drama, blah... blah... blah... generally people that consider themselves the center of the universe and don't hold true to much that they say or do. These people drive me batty - and they seem to be ever-so plentiful in Southern California these days. I don't put up with friends being like this, which means I'm definitely not going to tolerate it in a relationship.

The accumulation of things and status don't mean squat to me. If it doesn't serve a useful function, if it means having to act a specific way that's contrary to my personality in order to maintain - then it isn't for me. With rare exception, I don't tend to give frilly gifts. I don't collect "stuff". There are no "Jones' to keep up with" in my mind. If you expect flowers and jewelry all the time, you're barking up the wrong tree with me.

Know-it-alls and those who rest on their laurels don't have much of a place in my life. It doesn't matter if you didn't go to college or if you hold multiple degrees and I could care less what your title is - demonstrate to me that you know what you're talking about or doing and you'll gain my respect.

Sex. Yep, I have to throw this in here. If I find a gal attractive, and I'm interested in her, I'll get to know her. Women that invest a lot of emotional commitment into sex probably won't be a good match for me. To me sex is a fun thing, a physical way to enjoy somebody in a more personal way. I dislike it when people put an arbitrary timeframe on when it will or won't happen. When the mood strikes and the timing is right, why not? It doesn't mean that I'm in love - or ever will be - just because I had sex with a woman. I'm still very good friends with some of the women I've been with in the past. While it was all fun and such, we just made better friends and I'm totally happy that we were able to go back to just being friends. The right kinda gal for me won't put sex on a pedestal and make it out to be this overly important issue. It is what it is so either do it and enjoy it or not at all (and we'll just be friends).

So there you have it, my likes and dislikes in relationships. Most of this applies to friendships, as well. I'm sure that I've missed something, but for the most part it's there. Be sure to check out part 2 of this, where I bare all about myself.

Full Disclosure - Part 2

This entry got off to a running start.

Radioactive rubber pants!

So we're all going to Hell today (it's in Michigan, by the way).

I read about a 6' 6" grandfather who turns 66 today - so he's 6-foot-6 and 66 on 6/6/06!

A remake of The Omen is being released today because of the spooky date, I suppose. I wonder if they're going to put the gross elevator death scene in this one... no wait, that was in Damien: Omen II. I had fears about elevators for a short time when I was a kid after having watched that one.

And lastly...

The "5-Second Rule" Rules! We're not all doomed today!

This entry was written by a strange guy on a strange day.

Getting into hot water here

Looking back a few blog posts I realized that I just sorta let the saga about my hot water problems go unresolved. Here's what ulimately happened:

After my last post about my water woes (haha... I just made that up!) I did manage to reach a live person at the apartment management company and she told me that they did have a water heater blow-out and that we were only down to 2 instead of the usual 3. She said that while we might run the chance of running out of hot water at peak times, we should still have plenty of hot water during off-peak hours - and I asserted that we didn't have any hot water, just warm at best. The next day I found a notice on my door that they'd need to enter my apartment the following afternoon so a plumber could check it out and I managed to get the time off so I could actually be there when they came.

That afternoon (day 6 of the ordeal) of waiting for the plumber to show up was a total waste of time - nobody showed up or even bothered to call. I wasn't very happy about that and called the apartment management to let them know about it. The following evening I found a message from the plumbers inquiring about setting up (another) time to come out. I never got around to calling them back.

Well, after a total of 8 days of cold, then luke-warm, and then warm showers, I magically started getting near-scalding water (if I turned only the hot water on). So I'm guessing either the temperature was increased (by our plumber neighbor - who was also tired of not having hot water) or they finally fixed the problem. What a pain.

This entry now enjoys virtually unlimited hot water!

Pictures and oddities

As promised, I've uploaded and posted the photo galleries from both the camping trip to Lake Isabella and of Rece getting buzzed (only looks right in Internet Explorer). I'll probably change the layout of Rece's buzzed photo page, but hey, it works for now - sorta. Enjoy!

This entry went to bed immediately after making this post.

The New Adventures of Surely, Frankly, Truly, & Seriously

Warning: Extremely long post!

This weekend was a lot of fun. Rece and I joined Christine and Sam for a camping trip up to Lake Isabella. The plan was to camp out (in tents) for a couple of nights over Memorial Day weekend.

Day 1 - Saturday, May 27th

Prior commitments prevented us from leaving until around noon-ish on Saturday. This was fine, as the traffic proved to be fairly light - especially for a holiday weekend.

We had initially planned to borrow Christine's friend's new Ford Escape (an SUV), but interestingly enough my older Ford Taurus wagon (with 98,000+ miles) ended up having more storage space for our gear. We scrapped the idea of taking the Escape and instead opted for my wagon. I was a tad bit worried that this higher-mileage vehicle might give us problems on the trip, but it proved to be just fine for the job in the end.

Of course I brought my GPS receiver and pre-planned some geocaches to find along the way. I strategically chose a few going over 'The Grapevine' (as they call it) to provide a stretch for the legs and to keep the pre-teens from revolting out of boredom. The first cache attempt wasn't much of an attempt at all. I led us up an access road to some powerline towers that turned out to be nowhere near the cache. We had to go back to the car - and still couldn't figure out where to park in order to get to it. We simply gave up on it and continued along our way.

The second cache we went after turned out to be an interesting one. It was well hidden, but it was the fact that it was extremely windy (we got sand-blasted!) and there was a hot dog vendor in what seemed like nowhere that made it so interesting. So this hot dog cart guy was there, waiting for customers in the middle of nowhere, just watching us as we attempted to find this cache. As luck would have it, he got a customer just as Sam found it. I wonder how much business this guy gets here, since the prior log in the cache also mentioned the vendor in it - and that was from a week prior... odd.

After our caching break, we pushed on down 'The Grapevine' and on (then through) Bakersfield toward the hills. The drive along the Kern river was nice. It was a small 2-lane highway with fantastic views of the river and its rapids - sometimes it's a bummer being the driver and not being able to take as much in.

The 2-lane highway opened up to 4 lanes towards the top and we discovered that it wasn't as rural as we had expected. (they had a Vons supermarket!) The area was beautiful and the lake was so blue! A little further driving (past the Vons) brought us to our campsite. It was bustling with activity, as many people obviously had the same idea to camp over the weekend.

We both (us boys and them girls) had new tents, which meant a bit of a learning curve for both parties to set up. With just a little fiddling we both got set up and then went on to cook our dinner of burgers, fresh veggies, and baked beans - OK, maybe it isn't such a good idea to have beans when you plan on sleeping in a tent later that night. This first night we had to endure some pretty rude behavior from neighboring campers - one group that blasted rap music until around 11 pm and the other that carried on loud (and drunken) conversation until at least 2 am (the last I checked my watch before managing to fall asleep).

Day 2 - Sunday, May 28th

On the morning of day 2 (Sunday) I woke up tired and a bit stiff in the joints... but since I was out camping, my mood was still happy. Christine and I went about getting the important morning stuff done (coffee) and then cooked a breakfast of sausage, eggs, toast, fruit, and potatoes - oh wait, forgot the potatoes... and the butter... and the sweetener for the coffee. Fine, off to Vons we go! Oh look, there's a coffee place... and a donut place... we'll keep that in mind in case we get lazy (which we never ended up doing, by the way). OK, so yeah, 3.5 hours later we finished eating breakfast... hmm... should we start making lunch now? Naw, let's go geocaching and check out the area.

We discovered that there was a general store not 1/2 a mile up the road from the campgrounds, which was much closer than the 6 miles to Vons, while driving to our first cache. Yep, 3 crosses on a hill... oh wait, this is a multi-cache... and we're in the wrong area to start... and Sam strained her ankle while climbing some rocks... gah! We gave up on this cache and went after another one nearby. It had a great view of the lake and we encountered a group of people at the cache location who turned out to be the people who originally hid it. We spent a little time talking with them and enjoying the beautiful day before moving on to explore.

After finding just one more cache deciding against going after a couple of others, we turned our attention to checking out downtown Kernville. This is a very cool little town, with all sorts of shops (most of which you'd expect in a tourist area) and a quaint town square. There was even a petshop that sold ice cream... anyhow... We decided to check out the museum, which turned out to be one of the most interesting and fascinating museums I've ever been to. If you ever find yourself near Kernville, this is a must see! (free to enter - but donations are welcome)

We went back to camp after our day out and made what Sam called 'Hobo Stew' which was simply a bunch of veggies and stew beef thrown in a foil pouch (that we made the night before we left) and placed over the campfire on the grill. We left them on for about an hour and spent the time drinking quite a bit and talking/laughing with some of our camp neighbors. The stew was delicious and I don't think any of us were able to actually finish them completely. Christine had quite a bit more than I did to drink that night and we spent the evening relaxing by the fire and laughing quite a bit. Eventually we all went to bed and settled in for a good night's sleep. The rude neighbors didn't make a peep this night and I was able to get in an amazing 9 hours of sleep!

Day 3 - Monday, May 29th

Christine awoke rather early and a bit hung over on Monday morning. She immediately set out upon the task of making coffee and, ultimately, breakfast. Shortly before 9, Rece woke me up and I was delighted to find that I felt well-rested and not a bit sore as I had been the morning before. As I was putting on my shoes I got a good chuckle out of one of the other neighbor's method of waking his camp-mates. He had started playing the guitar with lyrics that went something along the lines of...

"It's time to wake up, so get up you fuckers...
It's time to wake up, so get up you fuckers...
Wake the fuck up you sleepy fuckers..."

The singer's voice and humor reminded me of my brother Danny a lot, as this is something he would have likely done in the same situation.

Breakfast burritos, fruit, coffee were on the menu for breakfast and it was very yummy! After eating we packed up our gear and were happy to find that we had a lot more room in the car now that we had used up most of our provisions. With a bunch of bungie cords and a cargo net, we securely strapped the tents and chairs on the roof rack of the car (something I needlessly worried about breaking free on the way up here as well). We broke camp at noon, right on schedule.

The trip back down the mountain was pleasant, with the view of the river and rapids and mountainous cliffs. At the base we stopped to admire a man-made waterfall that roared out of a hole in the side of the mountain. We then continued our journey back, stopping at the Flying-J truck stop for a bite to eat. The rest of the journey home was sedate, as we were all rather beat from camping.

After getting back to my place and unpacking, we ordered a pizza and then proceded to buzz off all of Rece's hair. He wanted it done and we finally had the time to do it. Christine took pictures of the process, which I'll post later today or tomorrow (along with the camping pictures).

This was a very fun trip to an area of California I've never been to before. The Sequoia National Forest is a beautiful place - even though the area we were camping wasn't much of a forest. My only real complaint is that the restrooms were disgusting and there simply weren't enough facilities to support a full campground. I even opted against taking a shower the entire trip because of this (one more day and I'd have started to smell pretty bad, I'm sure). Aside from that, everything was great.

I'll be posting pictures of all this in the next day or so. I'll make a post with a link to the web page when I'm done.

This entry didn't want to go back to work today.

I'm not the only one!

Finally, a reputible tech magazine has put together a list of horrible tech products. For me, the best part is that I've been trying to tell people about how bad most of these products were/are as far back as I can remember! Check it out:

PCWorld.com - The 25 Worst Tech Products of All Time

Hell, just yesterday I overheard a conversation in the office where one gal was telling another gal that AOL's free email service was great. There was little option but for me to interrupt their conversation to say, "Anything AOL sucks. Try anything BUT AOL or Hotmail unless you like lots of SPAM." Grrr...

This entry said, "Ha! Take that AOL & RealPlayer!"

Picture pages, picture pages...

As promised, I've posted some pictures from this past weekend's hike. You can find them here.

This entry went over hill, over dale...

It has begun!

Guess what this is...

That, my friends, is the empty void that used to be occupied by my drum set!

Yep, after 13 years I finally set my drums back up!

At this point I'm stuck, as I now have to pick up some parts for the set. It is in a semi-playable state as-is, but I'd like to get it cleaned up a bit and in more of a final state before I can actually start to seriously think about playing.

I'm so excited about playing! (despite the blank expression in the above picture). Okay, that's all - I just wanted to post an update about this.

This entry paradiddled into a double-stroke roll!

On global warming... again

Believe me, I'm not trying to say that global temperatures aren't rising, but I have a difficult time believing that our burning of fossil fuels is the biggest factor in it. Here's an article that argues against the commonly accepted notion that our actions are the sole reason for the global increase in temperature and says that while CO₂ levels might be a contributing factor, the sun itself is actually hotter. Nothing we do here affects the sun.

We've only recently (relative to history) been able to track changes in things like this. Such short-sighted analysis of what amounts to a blip in the timeline of the history of the planet doesn't seem right to me.

This entry doesn't believe that the sky is falling or that we're ruining the planet.

Bing! Bang! Boing!

Wow, some of these bring back early memories. This is what we had to play with when I was a kid... and we liked it!

This post was brought to by WHAM-O!

Well said: Privacy

Read this article about privacy. I think it was well said and not portrayed in a paranoid fashion, as I've seen others do. Check it out...

Wired News: The Eternal Value of Privacy

This entry was written to be read in public.

Tired and achy

This weekend turned out to be one of the busiest for me in a long time.

My dad drove down on Friday night to sleep over and catch his plane on Saturday afternoon. I gave him my bed, moved Rece to sack out on the sofa, and I took Rece's bed. I think my dad had hoped that I'd drive him to LAX (about 45-60 minutes away, depending on traffic). I knew he was coming down at some point during the weekend, but he didn't provide me with any specific timeframes ahead of time. Assuming that he didn't need my help with anything, I went ahead and planned my weekend. I felt kind of bad telling him that he should take the shuttle to the airport, but my plans for the day took me all the way up to Pasadena - and the plans involved 2 other people besides me and Rece, so I wasn't going to break them. He didn't say anything about it, but I did tell him that in the future it would be a good idea to let me know specific things like flight times and such so I can lend a hand in the future. Aside from that, we had a good time hanging out. We drove down to Newport Beach, picked up some donuts, and then walked the pier, enjoying the evening.

The plans for Saturday were for Rece and I to join Christine and her daughter Sam for a trip up to Pasadena to check out the JPL-Nasa open house. This is when they open up their otherwise very closed campus to the public and have exibits about the various projects they work on. One of Sam's friends joined us, who turned out to be pretty cool. All the exibits were interesting, albeit nerdy (which I totally loved). We got to see the Mars rover (the one they practice with on Earth), learned about the search for planets around other stars, watched a film about the recent mission to study and capture comet material, and saw a pair of 700-pound gliding robots! If you're interested in space, or have children who are, I highly recommend checking this place out the next time they hold an open house.

On Sunday we started off the day with a hike with some friends (Christine, Sam, Rana, Niki, and a dog named Sierra). It wasn't too long of a hike, but it was enough to get some exercise and just to be outdoors. I introduced Niki to geocaching (the only one of the group who didn't know what it was yet), as I was also out there to check on the geocache that I have hidden in the area. The trip only lasted about 1.5 hours, but there was a decent incline to conquer on the way back. Rece played photographer, which I'll probably get around to uploading and posting on my site this evening. Maybe Rana will send me the pictures that she took as well. After the hike we went to PCH (Pacific Coast Hot Dogs - not the highway) and chowed down... cuz that's what you do after a healthy hike - munch on some very yummy hotdogs!

After lunch, Christine, Sam, Rece, and I went to pick up our swimming outfits and then headed on down to Wild Rivers for their season pass holder preview day. Being that Sunday was forecasted to expect rain and it was overcast and also preview day, this meant practically no lines and no overcrowding. We had so much fun running (ahem, briskly walking) to each of the water slides and taking them on with reckless abandon! Rece, being the weakest swimmer and somewhat of a chicken, didn't go on all the slides we did, but he enjoyed the ones that he did go on.

I'll admit that I am totally out of shape when swimming is concerned. I suspect that I had a few lifeguards' attention when I decided to swim across the wave pool in the deep end - I must have looked like I was ready to sink from exhaustion! A simple change of stroke and adjusting my energy to work with the swells allowed me to get to the other side safely to catch my breath. One of the slides we went on was akin to being flushed down a toilet. You slide into a bowl from this chute and skim around the sides until your momentum slows and allows you to drop through a hole in the center and into a pool. In theory this would seem to be a fun idea, but the speed you're going meant experiencing a slapping sensation on your back and the possibility of being dumped into the pool at an unusual and potentially disorienting angle (just my luck, I was dumped going backwards and upside-down on my shoulder - good thing my sense of direction is good). So yeah, that ride sucked - but the rest were great!

As I mentioned ealier, it was overcast, but it was also breezy so we'd get cold standing in line. The trick was to stay in water as much as possible. The "lazy river" (as we called it) was relaxing and we got out to go sit in the hot tub to relax even more. After about a minute I looked at Christine and asked, "does it worry you that this is the murkiest water in the place?" The expression on her face indicated that she understood what I was getting at, then Sam asked, "what do you mean?" I quietly stated, "lots of people, warm water, lots of kids, murky water..." to which Sam replied, "EW!" and promptly got out. Christine and I followed suit and we decided to go on a couple more water slides. Rece, being the boy that he is, didn't seem to care and was content with remaining in the bacteria bath.

As I type this, my muscles are tired, some are a bit sore. All in all, this was very fun weekend!

This entry got flushed down a toilet!

Not enough funny

As I sat here waiting for the plumber to show up, I read through a few blogs that I regularly check out almost daily. For some reason I was left to ponder what to write about in my blog next. Thinking a bit further into it, I came to the realization that my blog probably isn't as funny as it used to be. This might just be my own perception, but if this is true, then it means that something is off.

Most of my friends seem to find my oddball situational comedy (sitcom!) entertaining. I can usually count on a chuckle or a laugh from something I said. There's no real pattern to it (aside from frequent innuendo) and I just say whatever pops into my head, even if it doesn't make sense. On occasion I'll just get a blank look from people, but most of the time they find it strange enough to laugh. I enjoy making people laugh and it's something that seems to just come naturally.

So why do I think my blog doesn't go into humor as often lately? Maybe I've been getting more of my "funny" out than before and just don't have much left to write about here. Maybe it's after the scare I had at work and I suspected that some of the things I write about work might possibly get me in trouble there (most likely just paranoia). Whatever it is, I hope to get myself out of this rut and explore my humorous writing side a bit more.

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That being said, found this "what (thing) are you" and as usual, it seems to describe a bit of my personality...

You Are Midnight

You are more than a little eccentric, and you're apt to keep very unusual habits. Whether you're a nightowl, living in a commune, or taking a vow of silence - you like to experiment with your lifestyle. Expressing your individuality is important to you, and you often lie awake in bed thinking about the world and your place in it. You enjoy staying home, but that doesn't mean you're a hermit. You also appreciate quality time with family and close friends.

What Time Of Day Are You?

This entry was going to tell a joke, but got heckled by the guy sitting in the back wearing leopard skin pants and sipping a Zima. Go baby, go!

Mental doodles

Yep, that's the best title I could come up with.

My hot water situation is a little better now. While I still don't have hot water, it's at least a bit warmer and I'm not walking out of the shower shivering. I spoke with the management and they said that they had a water heater blow out, but that there were still two that were operating. Apparently only one other apartment (out of 11) had called to complain about the water situation. This makes no sense to me. Stupid neighbors.

I left a message letting them know that I was still only getting minimal water temperature yesterday. Hopefully they send somebody out to get things working properly today.

---

Last Thursday I went to E3. A friend of mine hooked me up with a pass to get in. My name for the day was Christopher (last name omitted). This was the first time that I'd had the option to go and I was lucky that my boss was cool about only having 4 hours notice of wanting to take the day off. There was so much to see and take in.

The "booth babes" were hot. The gadgets were cool. The game graphics were incredible!

I was lucky enough to get into a 30-person Huxley tournament. It's another one of your typical first-person shooters. We were in 2 teams of 15 and prizes were awarded to the top 5 players. I came in 5th place, which yielded some nifty swag - not to mention pride in doing so well in a game I hadn't ever played before.

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On Saturday I went to the Renaissance Faire with Rece, my ex, and one of her girlfriends (who bought the tickets). This was the first time for me at a RenFaire. It was a total blast! If you're a "boob man" like me, this is the place to be. You'll likely never see so many women in push-up corsets in one place anywhere else! I definitely want to go back next year in full costume - no, not in a corset.

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Sunday (Mother's Day) I got to talk with my mom for awhile. It was nice to catch up and hear that she's doing well. I worry about her sometimes, as her lifestyle doesn't seem to include much security for the future. I do envy her for being able to do what she enjoys and on her own terms, though.

This entry staggered down a path, going nowhere in particular.

Klaatu barada nikto

Read about this fellow who managed to change the display of one of those construction signs often found on the side of the road. I found it pretty funny.

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In other news: Today makes the 3rd day in a row that I've had to take a cold shower. It seems that one of the water heaters for our apartments went out and either they haven't replaced it yet or they did something wrong when the did. I barely had enough heat to wash dishes the night before, let alone take a shower.

I was so irritated by this that I put up a sign at the mailboxes (the only place that all tenants are likely at some point during the day to be) telling people to call the management company and tell them that there's a problem.

After I put up the sign, I ran into my next-door neighbor and asked how his water situation was. Of course it was the same. I asked if he had called the landlords yet and to my astonishment he said "no". What's with people like this? Do they expect that things will get fixed all by themselves? I suggested that he give them a call so that they hear more than just my voice over and over complaining about broken things around the place. He said he would give them a call. This is the same guy that had the solar water heating pipes over his apartment leaking and dripping down on/over his balcony for a month... I'm guessing he didn't call then either, because I finally got tired of hearing a trickle of water and called - the problem got fixed within a few days.

This isn't the first time that this apartment management company has taken their time to fix something. About a year ago the water main going into the apartments broke and was gushing water at an astonishing rate (this was also a morning when showering was a problem). I called them about it before going in to work (8:00 am) and when I arrived back at home (5:15 pm), it still hadn't been fixed! About 20 minutes after I arrived, a plumbing truck pulled up and they had the problem fixed in less than 10 minutes. ARRG!

Anyhow, I'm hoping that they get this problem fixed soon!

This entry didn't need coffee in order to wake up this morning...

Who do we blame now?

I read a news story today about some drunken idiots (and I dare add that they live in the south) that got into an argument over how to use a PS2 game system. The fight ended when one of them pulled a gun on the other and shot him dead.

What I'm wondering now is which group is going to speak up first? The anti-gun crowd blaming the gun for the killing, the anti-video game crowd saying that this is another example of the violence in video games, or people against alcohol? Oh the humanity!

This entry was shot while arguing over which video game character is better: Mario or Luigi.

Operation Photo Rescue

I happened upon this website and immediately sent them an email telling them that I wanted to volunteer to help them in their efforts. I also included a sample image of what I can do (see below).

Restoring digital photos is something I seem to have a knack for and I've done it for a few friends and family members over the years. The most difficult one I was asked to restore was from one of my co-workers. His dad had passed away not too long before and he had discovered an old picture that his mother had been carrying around in her purse or wallet for years. Time and abuse had taken their toll on the picture and he asked me if I might be able to help. After a few days (during lunches at work) I was able to bring the picture back to a much better state.

Here's that picture...

(click for a larger view)

This brings back memories of some work my mom did when I was a kid. She would take real photographs and either restore them or colorize them (this was way back before personal computers). It was a way for her to use her artistic talents to restore and/or enhance photographs. Now, in the digital age, I have a chance to do the same.

Anyhow, hopefully they get back to me and find my skills useful enough to start putting me to work!

This entry was color-corrected, sharpened, blended, and rasterized.

Save the Internet!

Big communications companies are attempting to change how the Internet works at a fundamental level. What is being proposed is a multi-tiered Internet where those can afford to pay what amounts to extortion fees to telcos get preferential treatment of bandwidth (Internet traffic) and those who don't pay get whatever is left over.

The Internet is a place where anybody can create something and has an equal footing with huge corporations. It's a way for everybody to have a chance to be heard and a great method of communicating.

Network Neutrality is what the Internet currently enjoys now. Nobody gets any preferred treatment over anybody else. This needs to be maintained so that everybody has equal chance to succeed with whatever it is they want to do on the Internet.

It's a topic that's causing a lot of stir on BOTH sides of politics. When both Democrats and Republicans are making strong efforts to prevent something, chances are that it's because they're fighting against something most would consider "unconstitutional".

Back up the efforts to stop big telcos from controlling the Internet!

This entry was written while the Internet was still neutral - let's keep it that way!

High road to the Moony Temple

Quinn, his daughter Allissa, Rece and I went hiking and geocaching up in Crestline and Lake Arrowhead this past weekend. The weather was outstanding and about as good as it gets for being outdoors.

I posted photos and details on a new web page on my website. Both Quinn and I took a lot of photos, but you'll only be subjected to around 47 or so...

This entry got itself a nice sunburn while hiking!

My brain... ees no workie...

Wow! Today was a mental midget day for me. I feel dulled and uninspired... like much of my brain has shut off on me. The cool part is that my mood isn't being affected by it - I'm actually in pretty good spirits.

Was supposed to go out and join some coworkers for happy hour tonight, but just can't seem to get myself motivated to go. I guess my introvertive tendencies are ruling my decisions today. Going to a noisy bar to yack just isn't something I wanna do right now...

This entry... duh...

Performancing... it's back!

Performancing came out with an update (version 1.2 now). Apparently they fixed the problem with being able to log in to blogger (aka blogspot), so I can resume using it to write blog entries. For those of you (probably none) that are interested, this is why the subject of Performancing went dormant for awhile. This is my first post since the update, so it's a short and simple one.

This entry is about as interesting as a paper clip.

He's not a little boy anymore

As I sit here, trying to put together my thoughts, I'm resisting tearing up - but I'm smiling. There is just so much to say that it is difficult to put it into words.

Rece is 11 now. He's a great kid, with a caring personality. He's smart and very funny. He likes what every other kid his age likes: video games, pizza, movies, riding his bike, playing with toys, etc.

Yesterday we went for a bike ride after I got off work, and we went to find a geocache. It used to be that Rece would putter out on a hill, or whine that his legs hurt - this time proved different. He kept up (and a few times led) along the ride. He did slow down quite a bit going up one hill, giving me a good enough lead ahead to stop and wait for him at the top. What caught me off-guard was when he got to the top, he waved me on and kept going - not wanting to stop and rest as he used to do. He did comment that is legs were burning a little, but not as a whine or complaint; more as just an observation. If I don't watch out, I suspect that I'm going to be the one lagging behind pretty soon!

The other day I was watching an excellent show called Coupling (the BBC version) on DVD. The subject matter is definitely mature with very quick and witty (and often complex) humor. I thought Rece was in his room playing, but as it turned out he was watching behind me. At one hilarious point, both of us burst into laughter... to which I realized that he was watching. I asked him to sit down and watch it with me. To my surprise and delight, he was able to follow the story and gags at every point, barring the strictly sexual content which he hasn't any context to associate with yet.

The fact that Rece is able to enjoy a show like that with me is both appealing and depressing, in a way. It has become apparent that his brain is no longer just occupied by toys and games and distractions as I've grown accustomed to. He has now begun to navigate the path toward becoming a man.

As a father, I'm so proud of my son - even though it means having to watch the little boy I've known for so long slowly disappear.

This entry looks back upon fond memories of Legos & Hot Wheels.

Confuse a Cat

Another tid-bit of Monty Python goodness...

This post was not, is not, will not, and will never admit to ever being confused.

10 Things I Hate About Computers in Movies & on TV

Computers are now a common item to see in homes, offices, and schools. This fact hasn't seemed to change the way they're depicted in films and on TV. In fact, computers don't do most of the things that we see them do within a movie or TV program, yet many people still seem to accept these things while watching.

I've been using computers for more than 20 years now. I'm an I.T. person who deals with fixing and operating computers on a daily basis. I use computers as a source of entertainment and information at home. I'm also one of those annoying people who seem to notice all the things wrong in a movie ("hey, that glass was empty in the last frame!"), so it is no surprise that I've chosen to put together a list of the things that bug me about computers in movies and on TV... so here goes:

1. Windows into the soul. With around a 90% market share, Microsoft Windows (one version or another) is clearly the operating system that is most likely to be found on computers no matter where you are in the world. So why is it so exceedingly rare to actually see Windows in use on a computer in a movie? Linux is great and all, which is what appears to be used most often (probably because they can get it customized to look and do whatever they want for the movie), but the truth is - most people cannot use it because they've never even seen it before!
2. Psst... what's the password? This is one area that has improved over the years. In older movies, we used to see a blank screen with 'Enter Password:' on it. It didn't seem to matter what was trying to be done, you just had to enter a password to do it. Now the password screen has been livened up a bit, but the same old problem still exists: poorly chosen passwords. It seems that computer experts and evil geniuses still haven't learned the virtues of a strong password. No matter what, it always seems to be a word from the dictionary or a name of a pet or person (or in seemingly smarter films, a highfalutin name like 'Sisyphus' might be used) or some title of a book/project, but whatever is chosen - they always seem to figure it out. What really gets me annoyed is when the password has a self-destruct mechanism that wipes out the data or does something else bad if the password is entered incorrectly too many times... see, they're smart enough to think of a system like that, but not smart enough to come up with a stronger password. It may be that a password like 'z^21R*9iB.g%u7' isn't as thought-provoking or interesting to an audience as 'KRONOS' might be. Hmm...
   
3. Backdoors galore! This computer cliché seems to almost be a thing of a past. It seems that this could have been a way of avoiding the previously mentioned password problem in shows. See, why try to figure out a password when you can get into the system using a little-known backdoor into it... which always seemed to be put there by software writers 'just in case'? Well, in this day and age we call that a security hole/vulnerability (not to mention a legal liability) and it just isn't done in the real world.
   
4. Everyone is an expert. Having "officially" worked in the I.T. field for the last 8+ years has given me some insight into the amount of computer knowledge the general population has. What I have come to learn is that most people really don't know how to do much more than operate software that they use at work and/or at home - and at a limited capacity, I might add. I'm talking about a word processor, an email client, a browser, games, maybe a photo editor, etc. Beyond that, most people just don't have the time, interest, or inclination to figure out what else their computers are capable of doing ("what, exactly, is defrag?"). The movies would have you believe otherwise. We are often led to believe that a character in a movie is able to sit down in front of a computer, that uses an operating system they've probably never seen before, with software they've never used - but somehow they intuitively know how to not only crack the password (or find the backdoor), but to then pull up the information they need, and sometimes even find useful correlating data.
5. Six degrees to Kevin Bacon. I don't know about you, but I've often wondered where this expansive super-database about people can be found (since we now know that the FBI doesn't have one) and how it can be so easy to query for exactly the data you're looking for without even knowing the database structure! Movies will try to convince you that there is this massive collection of personal data, residing somewhere out there that's accessible to almost any government agency, big corporation, or hacker. This database apparently contains everything from photos and relationships to dental and phone records... all easily accessible from one interface and in an easy to discern and understand format. It also conveniently happens to be that the character within the film knows how to use this system with ease as well.
   
6. Universally compatible. Movies and TV try to tell us that every computer is able to communicate with every other computer system out there... no matter how different or foreign. Remember the movie Independence Day? Jeff Goldblum's character has an Apple PowerBook G3 that is not only compatible with the invading aliens' computer system, but it is also able to upload a computer virus (I'll get back to these) to them that brings down their force fields, allowing our primitive weapons to take 'em out. YEAH! It's a good thing for us that alien programmers use the same programming software, language, and operating system that we humans use - yet they don't bother to use anti-virus software!
   
7. Resolution of image clarity. This is probably one of my biggest pet peeves in movies and TV: No matter how low the resolution an image or video is, regardless of how far away an object within it was; a computer can refine, adjust, tweak, restore, zoom-in, and correct it - often in near-perfect clarity. The first time I noticed (and then balked at) this was during the movie No Way Out (1987), starring Kevin Costner. They scanned a damaged Polaroid (yeah, remember those?) negative into their computer system - a behemoth that took up nearly an entire room - and it was able to recover the image perfectly. Or how about a security camera 2 blocks away that picks up a crime that ends up helping investigators catch the "perp". We've all seen what these videos look like on the news - the quality is abysmal at best. Yet time and time again in movies and on TV they process these through a computer and are able to zoom in and "enhance this area" with perfect clarity.
8. Graphic violence. So much eye-candy happens on the systems in shows. Windows and screens slide and move behind or in front of one another. The interfaces are slick and very eye-appealing, using some very cool-looking visuals. The movie Hackers really annoyed me because they made hacking/ cracking seem as though it were a cool interactive 3-D videogame where you flew in and out of graphically represented filesystems and saw other users (and hackers) floating around doing things. To most, hacking is rather dull looking - scrolling through code, running scripts, sniffing packets, and the like. What bugs me about all of this is that not only is this all happening on a system that nobody has, but the hardware requirements alone would make the system incredibly slow to use (oh - I forgot to include that computers are impossibly quick and responsive in shows... nah, no need to make another number). At this point I'm tempted to drift off into a tangent about obvious or over/mis-used CG (computer graphics) in movies, but that would take an entirely new entry to go over. I almost didn't include this one because Linux & Mac systems already do a few of these nifty visuals now - and the upcoming Windows Vista will also do a lot more (if you fork over the cash for a very fast computer with a kick-ass video card), but I'm writing this based on movies current and past. Mostly computer-fiction (CoSci?) now, but some of this stuff is definitely on the horizon.
   
9. The bleeping computer is making funny noises again! When was the last time text scrolled across your screen and you heard some sort of magical blipity bleep buzz sound accompany it? I'm not talking about system event sounds or when using a Flash interface on a webpage, either. I'm talking about hearing a descending zipping muted phaser sound when you zoom in on something - even the amazing Google Earth doesn't do this. The answer is most likely "never" (sorry, the voices in your head don't count). For the most part, computers are quiet things; sounds happen only when certain things occur - like to acknowledge a click, a dialog pops up, an error occurs, etc. Computers in the movies or on TV have all sorts of cool interactive sounds while they do stuff, don't they? This used to be something they could get away with when computers were a novelty and people didn't have them in their homes, but the practice of adding sounds to a computer's operations in a movie persist. I find this distracting and odd nowadays.
   
10. Diagnosis: Computer Virus. Yep, these bugs are always out there... lurking in the shadows... ready to pounce upon an unsuspecting user and cause their computer to smolder or explode in a magnificent fireball. Why is it that people seem to think that computer viruses are these extremely complex things that can cause an entire city's traffic signals to go haywire while make a building's lights turn on and off and display a dancing character that pops up on screens singing a song (don't mind the fact that there aren't even speakers on some of these computers - you still hear it, along with those strange sounds I mentioned earlier). Viruses are rather simple in nature - they delete files, cause computer system instabilities, sometimes monitor keystrokes in hopes to capture passwords or other private data, or they open a Backdoor (yes, I dismissed these earlier, but it helps illustrates why legitimate software programmers don't put them in) allowing outside intruders to do a bunch of other things to an infected computer. They won't cause your computer to overload and explode, either - unless your computer contains C-4. They're made to do very specific things and try to be as uncomplicated as possible to help avoid detection. Getting infected with one of these is no picnic, for sure, but they're not as big a deal as movies and TV tend to make them out to be... nor could they infect a system they weren't specifically designed for - like say, an alien's forcefield systems...

This entry was bleeping, flashing, twisting, and turning
before I reminded it that it wasn't on camera.

Global (not so) warming?

Read this interesting article a couple of days ago about global warming and how it has apparently stopped... as far back as 1998. Yet we continue to hear about it and how it's a very serious problem. What I'm not sure of is the validity of the author's claims or his viewpoints on politics/society or if he's one of those types of writers that will put together a story opposing a subject just to get people to read his stuff or not. He may be correct, he may not... but the article does give something to ponder.

Then today I came by another article from what appears to be a more reputable source. It is in the "Opinion" part of the "Editorial" section of the Wall Street Journal - so that might temper the ideas presented. Again, just something different to think about.

This entry brought to you by the melting polar ice caps.

... and a special appearance by Bruce Lee's cousin.

Something I watched awhile back that had me laughing so hard I was in tears. I found the video on YouTube and thought I'd share it...

This entry was filmed in FUNKAVISION.

Awesome!

Found a link to this today and got all excited. After checking out how much my blog is worth, I became even more excited!

My blog is worth $0.00.
How much is your blog worth?

This entry brought to you by an absolutely worthless blog.

Give it back!

The hour we lost this weekend... I want it back. Why do we still go through the daylight savings time change in this day and age? It had its place once, but now it is time to let it go! I often wonder how much loss of productivity businesses go through during the first day or two (or more) after we "Spring forward". Folks are just a bit more sluggish than usual, and even more so because it's a Monday. It's doubtful that the extra hour we get in the fall does anything positive, since it's just like sleeping in an hour extra on a Sunday morning.

For us night people, having to readjust to wake up even earlier (internal clock speaking) is even more of a pain. So there you have it... my daylight savings whine.

While you ponder this, check out this picture of a kid sitting in a box, wearing a bicycle helmet, eating a sesame parmesan breadstick, while snuggling with a tiki...

This entry was brought to you by a second cup of coffee.